Can a human virus be stopped?
Virulent viruses that kill their hosts quickly enough to keep the disease from spreading stop themselves, hence the tactic of quarantine. Smallpox virus was believed defeated because all cases were tracked down and vaccinations were effective (unfortunately eager investigators hung on to some samples so…) Once the person has contracted the virus, either it can be overcome by the person’s immune system or it can’t. Herpes persists, colds come and go. Exposure to a virus followed by a gamma globulin treatment to jumpstart the immune system can help, but not reliably. Because, unlike most bacteria, the disease reproduces within the cell, hijacking the cell’s genetic material, and tends to permeate the system, it’s hard to attack directly without harm to the victim. Some people have thought about infecting virally infected people with counter-viruses or modified DNA to work within the cell, but this is still very speculative work.
